Destined (House of Night #9)(61)

The immortal did not manipulate the Warrior's dreams, though, as he had done to Zoey and many others.

That would have been too obvious. Stark would have recognized what was happening. If he became cognizant of Kalona's presence the boy could borrow elemental power from Zoey and block Kalona. At the very least Stark would have been on guard against him, and then observing Stark's subconscious would have been little except a boring waste of his immortal time. Staying secret-acting subtly-that was what he must do.

Yes, it was far better to lurk quietly in the recesses of Stark's mind-to whisper dark thoughts-to eavesdrop.

It was a happy coincidence that the young vampyre's dreaming mind enjoyed talking to itself. Odd, really, how Stark's subconscious tended to circle around to the same dream where he faced himself on a small piece of earth surrounded by nothingness, and talked to a mirror image of himself who was tougher and meaner than the real Stark and whom the vampyre called The Other. Stark didn't travel to The Other's presence every night, but when he did Kalona often overheard interesting pieces from the boy's day.

This night Kalona was ready to sever their tether, disgusted by a banal dream of Stark remembering happy scenes from his childhood, when the dream shifted and the child Stark grew, changed, and doubled. Kalona stilled himself and watched as the mirror images began speaking.

"Crappy day, f**knuts?"

"Yeah, and you're the turd cherry on the top of this banana split of a crap day."

"Hey, Stark, no problem. You can always count on me to keep ya real. So why don't we talk about how today would have been lots easier if you'd manned up and hadn't been so f**king nice."

"Yeah, Other. That's one thing I can count on from you-a bad attitude."

"Yeah, f**knuts, my attitude sucks, but I don't cry about having bad days. You can count on that."

"I can also count on Zoey being in danger from people who are too damn close to her for comfort."

"Might as well spill your guts. You know I'll always play devil's advocate."

"This damn Rephaim thing is gonna bite me in the ass."

"Tell me you're not moron enough to trust him."

"I'm nice, not stupid."

"Hey, sissy boy, have you thought about the fact that if you can't trust Rephaim, then you can't trust anyone who's close to him, either."

"Like Stevie Rae. I know. I expected to have to watch her close and be sure she wasn't getting Zoey into danger, but it looks like the opposite's happening. Stevie Rae keeps pushing Rephaim to stay away from Kalona, to be safe and smart and not give his messed up dad the time of day."

"What's the problem then?"

"Shaunee."

The Other laughed. "You mean one half of the Twin duo? So, they're both causing you stress. Hey, how 'bout this-instead of crying about it you dump Zoey and make yourself the middle of a Twin sandwich. Those two bitches are hot."

"You're such a piece of shit. I'm not dumping Z. I love her. And it's not the Twins who are the problem. It's just Shaunee. Seems she has some kinda daddy complex and she's giving Rephaim fuel for his Kalona-might-change fire."

"Sounds bad. You better be on guard, f**knuts, or shit's gonna hit the fan when ...

The scene began to fade as a beautiful white feather appeared over Stark's head.

"It's okay ... Don't have bad dreams."

In time with the whispered words the feather softly, gently, stroked over Stark's face, soothing his furrowed brow and, like a broom with sand, sweeping away the dissipating image of The Other.

In the darkest shadows of Stark's mind, Kalona smiled and, for then, severed their nightly connection.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Shaunee

"Really, Twin. Go with Kramisha and Aphrodikey. My stomach is still messed up from the Lunchables I had for breakfast. I need to stay here closer to the bathroom," Shaunee said.

"Eew, Twin, I tried to tell you Lunchables aren't a breakfast food," Erin said.

"Look, are you staying here and suckling Shauneedy, or are you coming with us? The bumpkin and the bird are upstairs heating up the car and waiting on us. We have like two-point-five minutes to get to the back door of Miss Jackson's and have Kramisha and Stevie Rae convince the security guy to let us in before he goes off shift and the damn store is locked up tight," Aphrodite said. "I have zero patience for Twin crap. The whole trip is already a pain in my shapely ass because I know Stevie Rae is gonna make me leave my credit card number."

"That is the right thing to do," Shaunee said.

"Whatever. Let's go, " Aphrodite said.

"Twin, are you-" Erin began and Kramisha cut her off. "You know I hate to agree with Hateful over there, but as my momma would say, shit or get off the pot."

"Gross," Shaunee said. "Especially with the way my stomach's feeling."

"Totally," Erin agreed.

"Are you comin' or not?" Kramisha said.

"Go," Shaunee insisted. "Grab me something that has cashmere and fur. In red, 'cause I'm so hot. And make Aphrodite pay for it." Erin grinned. "Done, Twin."

"Are you two gonna kiss good-bye now or what?" Aphrodite said.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Come on, Hateful. Let's shop."